A PC I am planning to build. Any suggestions?

[tekgek]

Hey.

I have a 650 dollar budget for a new pc, and the pc only! No monitor. I have a parts list that I would like to run past you guys. Unless you really want to, don't scrutinize the list too much... that will take a while... I am mainly concerned about the processor and video card.

[ibleet]

Okie dokie, lets see whats on the list.

[skier]

$650 is a pretty solid budget, unless you want an EXTREME pc, but my sig pc costed under 300(as most stuff was fairly old) btw, a maority of your stuff should come from newegg.com(best electronics site out there)

[tekgek]

Sorry... thought there was an attachment.. didn't hold . Here:

$650 PC Build



WINTEC AMPO 2GB (2 x 1GB)
ABIT AN-M2 nView AM2
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Windsor 2.4GHz
Rosewill RP600V2-S-SL 600W
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE
SAMSUNG Black 20X SATA (X2)
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW
PNY VCG85512GXPB GeForce 8500GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16

[vbironchef]

I would not build a 650 dollar computer. I would save my money or go on vacation. Anyway you look at it you will be alot more happy. That's just me.

[DaIceMan]

Did the choices you have listed come from one site, or if possible, could you post up the prices of each item so we might be able to know where to cheat the budget to get better quality/valued components?

[DMB2000uk]

You will get better performance by going with a 256MB 8600GT instead of a 512MB 8500GT.

What res does your monitor run at?

Dan

[ibleet]

Keeping in mine that this is a $650 build, I honestly think your cpu and video card choices are fine.

[DMB2000uk]

Keeping in mine that this is a $650 build, I honestly think your cpu and video card choices are fine.

You can get the 256MB 8600GT for the same as the 512MB 8500GT (Thats why I said )

Dan

[ibleet]

You can get the 256MB 8600GT for the same as the 512MB 8500GT (Thats why I said )

Dan

As always Dan...you have a point here.

I just responded to 2 or 3 build threads and I'm getting them confused. I was thinking he didn't use Vista and his Card of choice was a 7x series. My Bad. Listen to Dan, I have never seen him lead anyone astray, He knows his ****!

Next time I will be more careful.

[DMB2000uk]

As always Dan...you have a point here.

I just responded to 2 or 3 build threads and I'm getting them confused. I was thinking he didn't use Vista and his Card of choice was a 7x series. My Bad. Listen to Dan, I have never seen him lead anyone astray, He knows his ****!

lol, Thanks mate

Yeah, there have been a flood of "help with my build" threads lately, but its all good as hopefully people will stick around afterwards and contribute to the forums.


@tekgek: Aside from the graphical performance increase, you won't see a massive performance difference with the CPU speed increase.
And like DaIceMan asked, is it possible to have prices of the individual components.

Maybe it might be worth saving up just a little more to see what you can get with say $800-900.

Dan

[Major_A]

1. Why do you need 2 DVD burners? There is no reason to have two.
2. Do you play games and if so which ones?
3. Save your money and don't bother with the Audigy.
4. I don't know what the specs on that Rosewill PSU you have listed are but you don't need 600W.
5. You didn't mention if you needed an OS, don't forget to add that to the cost if you do.

Just using Newegg as an example, if you look around you can probably find the parts cheaper or with free shipping. Also if you live near a Fry's they have cheap CPU and motherboard combos and I've seen RAM pretty cheap there after mail in rebates.
Core 2 Duo E4300
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
Transcend 2GB DDR2 800
Cooler Master 500W PSU
Samsung SATA 20X
WD 320GB SATAII
Cooler Master Centurion 5 Case
Sapphire X1950Pro

Total=$662.58

And to make this purchase worthwhile... Core 2 Duo overclocking guide

[tekgek]

Hey, guys, I sorry I haven't replied for a while. I got a chance to read your posts, and they are all helpful. I've been bogged down with work and basically living on 6 hours of sleep and coffee. The 650 dollar idea is out, and I have a new budget. I have attempted to redesign the PC almost completely, including a cool new case. This time, my budget is 1,000 dollars. Go to the URL below and download the Excel spreadsheet. It has the good parts this time, including and Intel Core 2 Duo 6600 2.4 GHZ.

http://opencyberinfo.com/My%20Sweet%20Box.xls

[Zertz]

CPU: E6750 is better and cheaper.
PSU: Corsair 450VX is roughly the same price and much better.
Video card: X1950Pro/XT or GeForce 7900GT would be a better choice for gaming.
Mobo: I'm pretty sure the P965 or P35 chipset has more to offer for about the same price.
Memory: This kit is awesome if you can stretch your budget, very low latencies and usually overclocks over 1Ghz.

That looks like a good build to me, yours was good, but you can get better for your money

[tekgek]

The budget, I think is not that stretchable. But I do have two questions: Will 450 watts be enough for the current components and any other components I plan to upgrade of add in the future, and why is the power supply you suggested better?

[Zertz]

According to dicecca's PSU Buyers Guide, you should avoid Rosewill.

450VX Review, nearly 400W on the 12V rail alone and we all know Corsair (Seasonic), doesn't make trash PSUs, they can actually reach there rated specifications and not blow up. Also, take a look at url=http://www.jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=134]this[/url].

IMO, it's worth spending 30 more bucks to get those Ballistix instead, they use the best DDR2 chips, very tight timings at somewhat low frequency and if you loosen them they reach well over 1Ghz.

[DMB2000uk]

A terabyte of drive space? Really?

Component ________________________________________________Cost ($)
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case _____129.99
BFG Tech BFGR79256GSOCE GeForce 7900GS 256MB _____________ 149.99
XFX MB-N650-IUL9 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i Ultra ATX __________ 99.99
CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX ATX12V V2.2 550W Power Supply __________ 99.99
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) __ 89.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz ________________________ 194.99
SAMSUNG Black 20X 2MB Cache PATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner _______ 29.99
HITACHI Deskstar T7K500 HDT725050VLA360 (0A33437) 500GB (X2) _ 203.98
_______________________________________________Grand Total: $998.91

That is a much nicer system. The 7900GS even has a MIR that will bring its price down to $119.

If you were willing to reduce your hard drive purchases, then you could even go for something like a 7950GT which is even better for the games. Overall the 7900GS beats the 8600GTS by about 4%, and the 7950GT 512MB beats it by about 24%.

Dan

[DaIceMan]

A terabyte of drive space? Really?

That is a much nicer system. The 7900GS even has a MIR that will bring its price down to $119.

If you were willing to reduce your hard drive purchases, then you could even go for something like a 7950GT which is even better for the games. Overall the 7900GS beats the 8600GTS by about 4%, and the 7950GT 512MB beats it by about 24%.

Dan

IMO, I would dump the "Deathstars" altogether and go with Seagate or WD. I'm not sure what you're looking to do, but like Dan said a TB of space? i would start with a 320gb for a system drive, then add storage at a later time if you are using it for a file server... the Nine Hundred has plenty of space for drives, and even with 3 hard drives (someone correct me if my math is off this early morning), you would have sufficient power with the Corsair 550w. This will free up a little over $100 and give you lots more room to work with your video card.

[tekgek]

Okay, guys, I took your suggestion, and went for the geforce 7900. I hope I got that right, Dan. Unfortunately, I will not be building the system for a while due to er... problems. But, it won't be that long. I would like to know however, why you guys think that the hard drives are the wrong place to spend money. And as for the ram, I think that I will go with a brand that I know and love. PQI, in my opinion, makes good flash drives, so I trust them. Oh, and I went for one drive and got an X-Fi sound card . I will ftp the file to my website (still under construction, for those curious, but feel free to have a look) after I post this.

[DMB2000uk]

Everyone is hating on the hard drives as unless you will never fill a terabyte under normal use! But I see that you have decided to get an xfi now.

Yeah, that was the 7900GS i was on about. ^_^

While I'd personally still prefer the 550W corsair over the 650W antec, antec aren't that bad so its up to you to decide.

Is there a reason you are still going for the slower, more expensive E6600 over the E6750?

I take it that you will not be doing any overclocking by buying RAM that I've never heard of
(I'm not trying to break company loyalties, just that smaller companies won't have memory that overclocks as good consistently)

Dan